15 Oct 2018

Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) - Botswana Chapter vice president, Bishop Robert Maluke has implored churches in Chobe to abide by the laws of the country and help government uproot social ills.

Speaking at the launch of OAIC Chobe Sub-chapter recently, Bishop Maluke said the country was currently facing a problem of drugs and he implored the church to help eliminare such.

He urged churches to abide by the law, refrain from squatting and to submit annual returns accordingly.

Bishop Maluke said churches should also try to come up with solutions to problems that the country has such as unemployment.

He cited that as churches in a tourism hub could come together, raise funds towards buying vehicles to be used for safari or even start up a guesthouse.

Churches are rich in terms of having people with skills that they acquired from their different work places and as such they could take advantage of that to create employment opportunities for the rest of their membership and even develop their churches, he said.

Bishop Maluke encouraged churches to unite and benchmark from those that were excelling and to organise workshops that empower leadership on different managerial issues as a way of minimising conflicts within them.

The deputy secretary general of OAIC, Bishop Fizzy Mpugwa implored all churches to ensure that they align to the different mother bodies in the country such as the OAIC, Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana and Botswana Christian Council.

She said aligning to mother bodies would ease communication between them and the government. She said OAIC had registered only 202 churches out of the over 600 churches in the country.

Bishop Mpugwa said OAIC has seven regions and 20 sub chapters and the Chobe one would become the 21^st one.

Bishop Mpugwa urged church members to utilise government empowerment programmes to eradicate poverty.

She further said as members of OAIC, they should unite with government in dealing with issues of HIV/AIDS, desist from discouraging their members from using ARVS, encourage members to know their status and also ensure they protect the environment.

Chobe Minister’s fraternal chairperson, Pastor Manson Molopo said the main challenge faced by churches in Chobe was lack of land. Pastor Molopo thanked OAIC for launching a sub-chapter in Chobe saying it would help churches affiliated to it to speak with one voice.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Plateau customary court president, Mr Reuben Majeremane said the launch of the OAIC sub-chapter would make it easier for the government to work with churches in the area.

He raised a concern about some pastors who double up as traditional doctors and end up confusing the church of Christ. ENDS